High-speed tube or cane crack-off machine



C. EISLER HIGH-SPEED TUBE OR CANE CRACK-OFF MACHINE May 15, 1951 '2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 18, 1950 INVENTOR. 244x454 [-741 EA ATTORNEY y15, 1951 c. EISLER 2,553,136

HIGH-SPEED TUBE OR CANE CRACK-OFF MACHINE Filed Jan. 18, 1950ZSheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. CAM 445m 5.1%

A TTORNEY Patented May 15, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HIGH-SPEEDTUBE OR CANE CRACK-OFF MACHINE 2 Claims.

The object of. this invention is to provide a machine to crack off smalllengths of glass tubing or glass cane contained in a rotary magazine ordrum from which they are fed by gravity to the crack-off position, themachine being capable of producing a very large volume of pieces perhour of operation.

These and other advantageous objects, which will appear from thedrawings, and from the description hereinafter, are accomplished by thestructure of my invention, of which an embodiment is illustrated in thedrawings. It will be apparent, from a consideration of said drawings,and the following description, that the invention may be embodied inother forms suggested thereby, and such other forms as come within thescope of the appended claims are to be considered within the scope andpurview of the instant invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a machine embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of a means for driving the shaft14 and sleeve 44 of the machine,

Fig. 3 is a similar view of an alternative drive means,

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of a scoring tool with diamond cutter,used in carrying out the invention,

Fig. 4a is a similar view of the scoring tool shown provided with asteel knife cutter,

Fig. 5 is a schematic elevational view of the drum and the implementsused for cracking off, taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 6 is a, longitudinal sectional view of the drum and cognate parts.

The machine, as shown in the drawings, comprises the drum ll having theinternal frames 12, lZa mounted on and co-rotative, by such means askeys 3, with mainshaft It which is 'journalled in bearings carried bystanchions l5 secured to bed frame I! having supports I8, IS. Bed framel'i anddrum H are inclined so that the loading end of the drum isdisposed highest. The drum and wheel drives, shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,may be installed at the higher end of the drum instead of at the lowerend without requiring any important alterations other than a longersleeve shaft.

The glass tubes (or canes) it which are to be cracked into short lengthsare introduced by the operator into the grooves of the drum at itshigher end and are then allowed to slide down by gravity until they abutthe stationary stop plate 22 at the lower end.

The drum is provided around its outer periphery with the longitudinalgrooves 28, which may be either integral with the drum body, formed inthe castings or machine-grooved, or formed by the pipe 25a.

2 by suitably spaced slats 21 secured to the drum body.

The glass tubes (or canes) are held in the grooves by outer bands 23which prevent them from falling out while the drum turns. These bandsare secured to the slats by any suitable means such as the screws 23a.

The cracking-off operation takes place a short distance beyond the loweredge of the drum, the length of the cracked-off portion Hia of the tubebeing determined by the relative position of the stop plate 22. Duringthe rotation of the drum, the tubes pass the burners 24 (Fig. 5) ofwhich there may be one or more, for pre-heating at the region where theyare to be cracked, the burners being fed with a mixture of gas andoxygen, which gives a hot flame, through the pipe 25. After heating, theglass tube (or cane, as the case may be) passes to the crack-offposition, where the end is cracked off by the cutter 27 of the cutterarm 26 (Fig. 4). The cutter 2? may be of any material suitable forscoring glass, such as diamond, carborumdum, hard steel, and the like,the scratching operation, combined with the lower temperature of thecutter, causing the glass to crack off evenly all around.

Fig. 4a shows the cutting arm 2% provided with a scoring knife 2111which may be made of steel or similar material. The knife 21a is clampedby plate 26a and screws 25b to the arm 26 for convenient removal forsharpening.

The cutting arm is hinged as at 28 in the bracket 29 carried by theoverhead beam 36 (Fig. 5) supported by stanchion 3| secured to bed frameI]. The cutter 21 in arm 26 is urged into firm contact with the glasstubes by means of weight 32 adjustable on pin 33 carried by the arm. Thestop pin 35 on bracket 29, contacted by the angularly directed end 341of arm 26, prevents the arm and cutter, after the glass tube has beencracked and passed on, from dropping and damaging the next tube.

After the crack-off process, the glass tubes pass under the annealingburners 36, of which there may be a plurality, fed with a mixture of airand gas to correct the strains caused by the crack-off, the mixturebeing led to the burners Gas pipes 25 and 25a are supplied with theirrespective mixtures by the usual mixer 251) connected with the gassupply pipes.

During the heating, cracking-off, annealing and cooling processes, theglass tubes are kept rotating about their own axes by the rim of thewheel 31 inside, and the outside chain 38, which are driven in oppositedirections.

As shown in Fig. 5, the chain 33 is entrained over substantially onlythe upper half of the drum, and, as shown in Fig. 1, engages the tubesat a point below the point of engagement there 3 with of the cutter,whereby the tubes will be cut to length by the cutter and will be heldby the chain in engagement with the drum until the drum has been rotatedpast the chain (Fig. 5), whereby the cut tube lengths Ella will fall bygravity into the discharge chute 62. The chain is driven by sprocket 39and sheave so, both on shaft 4 I, and belt 42 over sheave wheel 43mounted on sleeve 44, rotatable on the drum shaft i i.

I'he drum shaft is driven by the motor 45, pulley S6, belt ll, andpulley 48 which drives worm 49 of shaft 50. Worm s9 drives wormwheel 5|which is freely journalled on shaft l4, and with which it can beclutched by means of clutch 52 splined on shaft I4. When the clutch isthrown in by clutch lever 53 (Fig. 1), the worm wheel and shaft areco-rotative and the drum H revolves.

In order to rotate the glass tubes, the drum I l and internal wheel 3'1are revolved in opposite directions. This can be effected either bydriving wheel 3? and its sleeve shaft 44 in the required direction, ashereinafter explained, directly from shaft 14, as shown in Fig.2, orelse by a completely independent drive from the motor, as shown in Fig.3. In Fig.2, bevel gear54 is shown mounted on shaft 5 1, opposing asimilar gear 55 on shaft M, both gears meshing with the idler bevelpinion 56. Bevel gear 55 is fixed on sleeve shaft ie on which is alsofixed the glass tube friction wheel 3'7. By means of the idler pinion56, mounted in fixed support 56a, the direction of rotation of sleeveshaft 44 is therefore the reverse of that of shaft l4 (and thus of drumH). In this particular exemplification, the clutch 52 thus connects ordisconnects both the wheel 3'! and the drum l i with or from the motor.

In Fig. 3, the described reversing mechanism is omitted, and a secondworm wheel 51 is freely mounted on sleeve shaft :34, and is driven byWorm 58 actuated by a direct motor drive 59, 59a. The worm wheel 5"! isclutched by clutch 60 with sleeve shaft 44. In this exemplification,then, either the drum II or the internal friction wheel, or bothtogether can be connected to and/or disconnected from the motor.

When drum and wheel have been de-clutched (leaving motor still running),or when the motor has been stopped, the drum and drum shaft can beturned by hand, for adjustment and cleaning, by the hand wheel ti onshaft M.

The cracked-off tube ends lfia fall by gravity into the discharge chute62 and from there onto conveyor 83 driven from pulley 64 by transmission65, 65a, to be finally disposed in work box 66.

Variations and elaborations of the drive mechanisms may be made withinthe scope of the invention.

In the manufacture of lengths of glass tubing, it is found, in practise,that variations in length are bound to occur. The machine of theinvention enables the glass tubes to be made initially greater than anapproximate length, and to be then cut to units of precisely standardlength.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patcm is:

1. In a high speed tube crack-off machine, a frame, supports to disposethe frame on a hori- Zontal surface, bearings secured to said frame atspaced points relative to each other, defining an acute angle to saidhorizontal surface, a shaft disposed in said bearings, and therebylocated at an acute angle to said horizontal surface, a drum secured tosaid shaft coaxially, outer bands secured to said drum in spacedrelation thereto to define therewith openings to receive glass tubes,means on said drum for spacing said tubes in parallel relation, a stopplate at the lower end of the drum against which the tube come to restby gravity, friction means engaging the tubes at spaced pointsinternally and externally of the drum to rotate the tubes, and a cutterdisposed at a predetermined distance from the stop plate to contact therotated tubes and cut them to precise predetermined lengths fixed by thespacing of the cutter from said stop plate.

2. In a high speed tube crack-off machine, a frame, supports to disposethe frame on "a horizontal surface, a shaft, and bearings for said shafton said frame to locate the shaft at an acute angle to the horizontalsurface, a drum secured to said shaft, means engaging said shaft torotate the same, means on said drum to hold a plurality of tubes on saiddrum, 9, stop plate at the lower end of the drum against which the tuberests by gravity, and a chain entrained over substantially the upperhalf (ifs-aid drum, means 7 to rotate said chain to rotate the tubes,and a cutter disposed at a predetermined distance from the stop plate tocontact the rotating tubes at the upper half of the drum and to cut themto precise predetermined lengths, said chain engaging the tubes at apoint below the point of engagement therewith of the cutter, whereby thetubes will be cut to said lengths by the cutter and will be held inengagement with the drum by the engagement of the chain therewith untilthe drum has been rotated past the chain whereupon the cut tube lengthswill fall b gravity.

CHARLES EISLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the hue ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,262,567 Rippl s Apr. 9, 19181,493,044 Leim'an May 6, 1924 1,754,143 Brown et al Apr. 8, 19302,304,926 Juvinall Dec. 15, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date619,965 Great Britain -s Mar. 17, 1949

